Highly Porous Metal–Organic Framework Entrapped by Cobalt Telluride–Manganese Telluride as an Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalyst

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 16; no. 8; pp. 10238 - 10250
• Main Authors: Rosyara, Yagya Raj, Muthurasu, Alagan, Chhetri, Kisan, Pathak, Ishwor, Ko, Tae Hoon, Lohani, Prakash Chandra, Acharya, Debendra, Kim, Taewoo, Lee, Daewoo, Kim, Hak Yong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 28.02.2024
• Subjects: Energy, Environmental, and Catalysis Applications; porous structure; polyhedron; nanorods; bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst; metal−organic framework
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c18654

The electrochemical conversion of oxygen holds great promise in the development of sustainable energy for various applications, such as water electrolysis, regenerative fuel cells, and rechargeable metal-air batteries. Oxygen electrocatalysts are needed that are both highly efficient and affordable, since they can serve as alternatives to costly precious-metal-based catalysts. This aspect is particularly significant for their practical implementation on a large scale in the future. Herein, highly porous polyhedron-entrapped metal–organic framework (MOF)-assisted CoTe2/MnTe2 heterostructure one-dimensional nanorods were initially synthesized using a simple hydrothermal strategy and then transformed into ZIF-67 followed by tellurization which was used as a bifunctional electrocatalyst for both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The designed MOF CoTe2/MnTe2 nanorod electrocatalyst exhibited superior activity for both OER (η = 220 mV@ 10 mA cm–2) and ORR (E 1/2 = 0.81 V vs RHE) and outstanding stability. The exceptional achievement could be primarily credited to the porous structure, interconnected designs, and deliberately created deficiencies that enhanced the electrocatalytic activity for the OER/ORR. This improvement was predominantly due to the enhanced electrochemical surface area and charge transfer inherent in the materials. Therefore, this simple and cost-effective method can be used to produce highly active bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts.